


You Too Are of the Planet

by lori_yuy



Category: Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020), Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:15:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25103797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lori_yuy/pseuds/lori_yuy
Summary: Marlene took on a part of Aerith's powers in the moments before Seventh Heaven and Sector 7 was destroyed.  One day, she decides to seek out the one person she thinks understands.This story includes elements from the Remake, the original game, Before Crisis, and Advent Children. It contains spoilers for main game, please proceed with caution if you've only played the Remake.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough & Marlene Wallace, Aerith Gainsborough & Tseng, Marlene Wallace & Tseng
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	You Too Are of the Planet

Fire was raging outside the bar. The fire's crackling sound and bursts of explosions rang throughout the Sector 7 slums. There were people screaming, people running, but soon enough, it became eerily quiet outside.

  
None of the adults she knew was in the bar that night. The sudden quiet scared her and she found the alcove below the sink to be a place of comfort. Huddled there, she cried and prayed for everything and everyone to be okay. Something told her that her home was going to be destroyed.

The sound of the door opening barely registered as her heart was breaking when she thought about her daddy and how he was not there with her. The sound of quiet footsteps. The view of the hem of a pink dress.

"You're Marlene, right?"

She remembers the calming gentle voice that had coaxed her out of her hiding place, a smile, marred by soot but smiled brightly nonetheless.

  
She told her that her name was Aerith, a friend of Tifa's and that she was going to take her somewhere safer. She remembers when she was comforted about losing her home, was taken into an embrace.

Then she saw the vision. The same lady...a lengthy sword's clean cut, a materia falling.  
A fireball in the sky.  
The Mako that rose up from the ground.  
She felt a shockwave transfer from Aerith to her.

She had stepped back with an expression of horror but a voice whispered "Everything will be alright."  
She looked up to see Aerith shush her with a calm smile. Flowers....Aerith radiated the scent of the lily that Tifa had placed in a vase at the bar.

It was time to go.

~...~

"Hey, what's your favorite flower?"  
"Hehe...um...."

The sound of a helicopter blade had interrupted their little chat. A tall, intimidating man stood in front of them. Aerith knew him.  
"Tseng...."

He had stared down at her hiding behind Aerith's legs with a dismayed expression. The meaning of the conversation between him and Aerith was unclear to her but it ended with Aerith taking her hand and leading her out of Seventh Heaven. Marlene remembers the knowing smile on the man's face after Aerith said "How about .. we make a deal?"

They were helped up the helicoptor by the man. His aura was much less intimidating now. 

"Tseng, take us to mom's place please." The man wordlessly buckled them both in and then took the pilot's seat.

  
"Marlene, we're taking you to my house okay? It's full of flowers and my mom is really nice. Your daddy and Tifa will come find you when they come back okay?" She only nodded, putting her full trust in the woman.

The man had given them side glances as they flew somewhere she didn't know. The ride itself was both exciting and scary to her. She's never sat in a helicoptor before. She was sitting in Aerith's lap, both buckled into place.

"He's not really scary at all is he?" Aerith stated after a few minutes.

Marlene realized she had been staring at him as he maneuvered the helicoptor.

A scoffing sound came from the man. "Don't take this as me being easy on you, Aerith."

She laughed. "I won't..." Her expression seemed to harden.

He landed in an empty lot next to a side road.  
"I want to be the one to take her in...and also to let my mom know." He agreed to it and gave them space.

She met Elmyra that night, was put to bed soon after, and then Aerith was gone.

~...~

There was the time when she thought she heard her dad's voice after watering the flowers.

There was a time when she saw a vision of a red lion.

She thought she had also heard Tifa and Cloud.

She saw a man in a red cape.

She heard the giggles of what sounded like a young ish girl.

She thought she saw a toy cat.

There was also an older scruffy man.

Aerith was there too.

She saw visions of scenery that she has never seen previously. She saw a theme park that she thought she had been to before. She saw rivers and mountains and marshes and grasslands. She even saw her dad in Corel, their home town.

Little whispering voices came and told her things as she watered the plants. Each drip of water seemed to tell her something different.

Back then, she didn't know that this was not normal.  
As she grew older and interacted with other children her age, she realized that this indeed was something special.

Why was she hearing voices? What are these visions she was seeing? Were the flowers actually talking?

Eventually it stopped bothering her. She never shared her secret with anyone.

The night was quiet. Elmyra was downstairs reading.  
Marlene gazed out at Aerith's garden. It was as mesmerizing as the first time she had seen it. The window to her room, what used to be Aerith's room, was open to the cool night air.

It has been awhile now that she's lived with Elmyra.  
Things at this house were calm. She went to school with the children from the orphanage. They would tell her tales of Aerith and what she did for their teacher and them.

One day, one of them took her to Aerith's church.  
The same yellow lillies adorned the place at the far end of the church. The place radiated warmth and welcome. She came to love the church and the flowers there. She was comfortably settled into a new life but some things wouldn't be forgotten.

She still remembers the day her dad had picked her up and put her on his shoulder and told her that he had things he needed to take care of. There were bad people hurting the planet that he had to fight. There was Aerith whom he had to go save. He has not yet come back since that day but Marlene trusts that her dad will not break his word. She thinks about the various visions she's had up to now. They're traveling somewhere out there.

Wind had picked up as the night progressed, a howling sound between the hollows of the rock ledges that lined the garden area.

A shrill sound of metal interrupted her thoughts and Marlene's eyes went wide. It was the same vision from the first time. The sheen of the blade, the height at which it fell into Aerith in a prayer position.

The invocation of HOLY.

A voice...Aerith's voice? "Everthing will be alright."

Marlene could not sleep that night.

~...~

She remembers every detail of the week that Meteor had shown up on top of Midgar.

The people panicking as Shinra Company attempted to fight off the incoming Weapon. 

The explosive sound as the top levels of Shinra Tower broke off from a direct hit of Weapon's blast.

She was there when Midgar went dark.

She remembers the creaking and howling sounds of the storms that ransacked the city.

The scent and heat of the burn of Meteor as it approached the surface.

The bright green that rose up from the ground all around them to meet it head on.

The fall of the green dust back to the surface. The shrill sounds of souls that had met an untimely death.

The quiet that fell after.

Her daddy, Tifa, Cloud, and the others she saw in her visions returned after that. All except Aerith.

They had failed to save her, but she had helped save the planet, her dad had explained. Marlene had only met her once, and not knowing why, she had requested to have her hair braided in honor of Aerith when she learned of what happened.

It turns out her visions were true. She suddenly remembered the feeling of when she first met Aerith.

Aerith had entrusted something to her.

Avalanche helped build Edge. They helped rebuild Seventh Heaven as well. Tifa and Cloud took in Denzel soon after.

Marlene had asked to stay with Tifa and Cloud and her dad reluctantly agreed. The voices in the wind told her she needed to be close to Aerith's church.

Geostigma reared its ugly head. The two other men in her life were both succumbing to it. One was weak but fighting strong, the other was too stubborn for his own good. Marlene knew she had to be strong to support both.

She followed Denzel when he left with the party of other children who were suffering Geostigma.

She watched as Cloud battled the three Remnant brothers until he was outnumbered due to his illness.

She ran and ran until she found Cloud and Vincent in a clearing in the forest.

She scolded Cloud for trying to run away and not face Tifa and their family.

She watched with hopeful eyes as Avalanche took down the menace that is known as Sephiroth once again.

She remembers the voice that rang into the rain that had cleansed the planet of the horrible disease.  
"Bring the sick to the church." the melodic voice commanded. She heeded the voice and brought the children to the church. Cloud and Denzel were cured that same day.

The voices and visions stopped after that.

~...~

A flash overtook Marlene's dream. A bright blade piercing through a man. She gasped loudly as she awoke with terror.

Meteor had come and gone. The Lifestream had saved the people then.

Geostigma had come and gone, Aerith's spirit had came and cleansed the planet. Cloud and Denzel were saved.

It's been years since she's had visions or heard voices. But why now? Why was this suddenly...?

She had almost forgotten about this man. She couldn't remember his name. The blade that had pierced him was the same one she saw during the first vision she ever had. The one that caused Aerith's death.

The next day, she knelt down in the bed of flowers in Aerith's church and prayed.

"Talk to him." She heard the ghost of a familiar female voice in the wind.  
"What ... do I say? Where do I even find him?"  
"He will tell you...he was special .. to me." the voice left her alone, in the midst of the scent of lillies.

A week later, she heard her dad downstairs yelling up a storm and sounding rather upset. She walked down to the floor level of Seventh Heaven to see what was going on.

  
A pair of people dressed in black had stepped into the bar. One with red hair and one with a bald head. She sort of remembers them helping out during the fight with the Remnants in Edge the day the rain fell.

Suddenly it hit her. The BLACK SUIT!  
She walked up to them. "Excuse me...."

Her dad turned around to see her. "Marlene! Get back upstairs. YOU TWO GET OUT OF THIS BAR."

"We're not enemies anymore man, chill out." The red head replied coolly.

"Excuse me...." Marlene tried again raising her voice.

This time, all three men turned to face her. Small gasps escaped the two men in black.  
"She looks like...."  
"Aerith."

"Do you know the man with the long black hair?" She asked out of the blue.

They looked at each other and then the bald man wordlessly pulled out a business card and handed it to her.

Barret gave them the dirtiest look he could muster and they ignored him. Tifa served them drinks like they were any other customer. Marlene turned around and left with the card in her hand.

~...~

She sat at the front pew of the church. The card in her lap was blank except for one phone number. She sighed once more and gathered enough courage to take out her phone and dial the number.

"Department of Administrative Research. How may I help you?"

She remembered that voice. Its smooth timbre. It lacked the threatening tones from when she first heard it.

"This is Marlene...." she meekly replied.

A veritable silence was on the phone then "Yes, what is it Miss Marlene?"

"I ... um.... may I speak with you in person?" Marlene asked with an unsure tone.

"Where would you like to meet?" the calm voice continued.

"Is Miss Aerith's church okay? I ...uh...don't actually remember your name. I'm sorry." She apologized in a tone that hopefully came across over the phone.

Another silence. "Are you there now?"

"Yes."

"Please wait there, I can be there within a half hour. And my name is Tseng."

The other end of the phone line had hung up.

Marlene felt a nervous lump rise into her throat. She swallowed hard.

Thirty minutes was usually not a long wait, but this particular wait had her on edge.

What was she going to say to him? Why did she even call him in the first place? She had no goal in mind.

"Talk to him..." she remembered the voice from the week before. She sighed. Taking a first step is always a good start right?

The doors to the church creaked open. The same man she saw many years ago stood at its entrance. He was as tall and imposing as she had remembered. His suit was no longer as sharp and he looked a little more worn out, but the intensity of his aura was still present.

Tseng took a good gander at the girl sitting in the pew who had turned around to look at him. It was the little girl that Aerith had traded out her freedom for. She was now approaching her mid-teens.

She wore the same braided hair as Aerith, adorned with Aerith's pink hair ribbon. He walked up next to her and sat down, much like how he used to sit down next to Aerith to listen to her teenage rambles.

"I had a vision." She started. "And then I came to the church, and I thought I heard Miss Aerith's voice. She told me to talk to you."

Tseng looked at her carefully.

Aerith....she was long gone from the world, but he felt her presence the day the rain had cleared Geostigma.

  
Somewhere in the church, he could still feel a lingering presence. He hadn't visited the church often after Aerith left Midgar, but never even made an attempt after he had learned of her demise.

"Can you tell me about Miss Aerith?" She pressed on.

He sighed quietly. He was a Turk, was used to handling difficult situations and conversations.

"Aerith was an Ancient, the last one on the planet." he explained.

"They were the original inhabitants of this planet. They could communicate with the spirits of the living and those in the Lifestream."

Marlene listened intently, but the man stopped talking.

"What were you to her?"  
Tseng looked at her with a cocked head. "I was....her jailer of sorts."

Marlene's eyes widened. "That's not what I conjured! She told me you were special to her."

Marlene reached out a hand to touch Tseng's arm. Suddenly, what looked like memories flooded her vision.

A little girl in the arms of a younger version of the man crying in what looked like a lab.  
Aerith, it was Aerith.

Aerith playing hide and seek and being tugged from under a desk.

Tseng reading books to Aerith.

Tseng holding her up as she drew colorful pictures onto the wall of a small room.

A beautiful woman running with little Aerith out of a building. The Shinra Tower.

Tseng knocking on Elmyra's door. Little Aerith looking at him with both fear and respect.

Aerith on the swings in what looked like the old Sector 5 slums playground, Tseng watching after her.

Aerith devouring an ice cream cone that looked absolutely delicious, Tseng had bought that for her.

The red head and the bald head taking turns keeping an eye on Aerith.

Tseng beating up some guy who had nagged a teenage Aerith on her way home.

A black spiky haired man who looked like he and Aerith were dating. Tseng who watched over both of them.

Aerith pushing a basket into Tseng's arms and having him help her gather flowers from the garden.

Aerith talking to Tseng in the church, many many times.

Aerith handing letters to Tseng.

Aerith ... looking at Tseng with sad eyes, and him with an unreadable expression as he handed her off to someone in a lab coat.

Aerith crying as she saw Tseng's slumped, bleeding form on the floor of a temple.

Marlene withdrew her hand. "I'm sorry!"  
Tseng didn't move. "Aerith gave you some of her powers." he stated simply.

Marlene looked up. "What....does that mean?"

"It means you can see and hear people's thoughts, feelings, past history, and the planet's cries and murmurs. You too have become special, Marlene."

Marlene remembered the first ride and last ride she took on a helicoptor with this man, sitting in Aerith's lap. He had dropped her off safely to Elmyra's house that night, fulfilling a silent deal between him and Aerith. Marlene's life and safety for Aerith's freedom.

  
"You really aren't a bad guy you know?"

  
Tseng laughed at that. He turned to face her. "If you can talk to Aerith in the lifestream, please tell her I'm sorry."

He fished at something in his suit jacket pocket and pulled out what looked like a blue hairpin with a floral design.

"This was Aerith's from when she still lived in the Shinra building." He placed it gently into her hands and got up and made a move to leave.

Marlene stood up and pulled at his sleeve. "Can we talk some more later too please?"

"I suppose that's fine. You have my number. Reno and Rude whom gave you the card patrols the center of Edge on a regular basis. If you run into any trouble, you can also contact them."

"Tseng...what ARE you?"

He paused. "I'm a Turk. A Shinra Turk."

~...~

She indeed called him many more times. Aerith's spirit had told her of many other things in the church in between the meetings.

They sometimes met at a cafe in the middle of town, sometimes at the church, or sometimes just sat at a bench by the statue that commemorates Meteor fall. He had handed her a box of letters with a Confidential seal across it one day that she later opened and read.

It was letters from Aerith to her ex-boyfriend, whom Tseng told her he failed to protect. Aerith had told her she didn't blame him one bit after. Aerith laughed in embarrassement as Marlene revealed that she had read her letters. Marlene had placed the boxed letters and the hairpin next to the buster sword and floral memorial that Cloud had setup.

The Turks had apparently been ordered to provide Marlene with protection whenever they're around.  
Marlene laughed at the thought.

She wasn't so different from Aerith now is she? Aerith agreed with her. "They are very protective, especially Tseng."

It was one of those days in town that Barret had walked into her talking to Tseng at a cafe.

Barret's eyes went wide and then his infamous tantrum flared. What the HELL is a Turk doing talking to his daughter??

He rampaged through the crowd directly towards the cafe table they were sitting at.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING TO MY DAUGHTER FOR EH?!?"  
Marlene had just finished telling Tseng about the latest things that Aerith had communed to her at the church.

She got up defensively and pushed herself in front of her dad and Tseng.

"Dad! Stop! It's not what you think!"

Barret was in no mood to listen. He pushed hard on her shoulder and she crashed into the table.

Tseng got up at this point. "Mr. Barret Wallace. You should listen to what your daughter is saying."

Barret grabbed the man by the lapel of his suit. "YOU GET AWAY FROM HER RIGHT NOW!"

Tseng's strong grip on Barret's wrist made him let go. Tseng decided it was time for him to make an exit.  
"I'll excuse myself then." He straightened his suit and walked out of the cafe.

Barret glared at his teenage daughter. "You don't EVER talk to one of those SUITS AGAIN you hear me??"

Marlene was suddenly angry at her dad's outburst.

"DAD! You don't EVER listen when it comes to something you have your head set on already do you?"

It was difficult enough being a teenager, but Marlene has had it with the unjustified anger coming from her dad.

She had known that her dad hated Shinra and the Turks, and it was Tseng who actually explained to her why. She was willing to put aside the differences after all the things that have happened since but her dad was not. He was biased as ever and unwilling to rethink things and give people second chances.

"Dad, LISTEN! He....we were only talking about Aerith." Marlene blurted out the only thing on her mind.

Barret stopped to look at her. "Aerith huh....I guess he would know a thing or two about her. But listen baby girl, I don't want to ever see you talk to that man again. You can talk to any other man, but not the Turks, you got that?"

Marlene almost rolled her eyes at her father. Like hell he'd let any man talk to her.

"Yes daddy, I ... " she didn't know if she felt comfortable divulging her secret abilities, even to her dad. "I...will keep that in mind."

~...~

She kept away from center of town after that.  
She didn't give Tseng more calls. Occasionally she still saw Reno and Rude show up at Seventh Heaven.  
She only smiled at them to acknowledge that she was fine. It has been maybe half a year since the incident between her dad and Tseng.

Aerith.....Aerith was still talking to her.  
She listened always and gave her opinions back.  
One day Aerith's spirit told her something unforgettable.

"You know, one day, humans will not exist."  
That seemed like the most natural thing when Aerith said it.

"Oh yeah?"

"It will be the planet's doing." Aerith added.  
Marlene looked around the room. "The planet's doing?"

A vision flashed in front of her eyes. Red XIII's running with pups. Midgar, covered in greenery. The planet, blooming with life of every other sort.  
No signs of humanity.

It suddenly spooked her, what she saw.  
"Aerith, tell me what happened?" but the voice was gone.

Marlene's hands were trembling. She looked around her room and her eyes landed upon the phone and card on her desk.

She picked up the phone hesitantly. The phone clock showed 11:18 PM. She shook her head but then remembered his words. "Don't hesitate to call me if you need anything. I am available whenever. Our President is a night owl anyways."

She dialed the number.  
"Department of Administrative Research, how may I help you?" his calm voice answered as usual.

"Tseng."

"Miss Marlene?"

"Can we meet at center of town please? Right now. Right by Meteor Memorial"

He seemed to pause for a minute. "What about your father?"

She sighed. "Don't worry about that, there's something Aerith had told me."

"Alright, I'll be there in about 15 minutes."

She hung up and took a deep breath. She's going to have to climb out the window to go outside. There was actually a ladder up on the other side of the building for emergencies so she could use that.

Slowly she opened her windows and began to climb out. "There's nothing to be afraid of." Aerith's voice suddenly sounded again. Marlene looked back into her room. "I...will be back Aerith."

They sat down on a bench near the statue.

"What happened?" he started. "Reno and Rude are worried about you too."

"Aerith....she...told me humanity will not survive on this planet."

He took a look at her serious expression in the moonlight.

"She told me it will be the planet's doing." Her expression was hard to read now.

Tseng sat in silence as if he's contemplating.

"The other creatures were all over the planet, we were gone. No traces whatsoever. Midgar was covered by a jungle." she continued.

"Aerith told you that?"

She nodded. "I also saw it in a vision when she told me. It was the creepiest but most serene scenery I've ever seen."

She scooted closer to him all of a sudden and buried her face and hands into his chest. Needless to say Tseng was surprised. He put up a hand but stopped when he heard her sobbing.

"Marlene........Miss Marlene...." She couldn't stop crying for some reason, and his chest felt comforting. He sat there silently and let her shed her tears.

It was now past midnight. He had started to comb her hair out of the braid to calm her down as her sobbing slowed to small sounds of whining.

"Marlene....what will you do with that information?" he finally asked when she calmed down.

Marlene looked into his eyes. They were intense like the first time she saw them.

"I don't know."

"Take some time to think about it." he suggested.

"Aerith told me not to be afraid." She finally said.

He sighed. "It will be up to you then. If I were to imagine what Aerith would do however, I'd listen to the planet. Come on, I'll see you home before anyone panics." He held a hand out and led her back to Seventh Heaven.

~...~

Marlene looked at the people walking around Edge.  
It had been another 10 years since that night.  
She hadn't heard Aerith's voice as much since then. She also hasn't directly contacted the Turks.  
The image of a humanless planet still haunted her.

One morning as she knelt again in the flower bed of the church, she felt the winds shift.

"We are born of the planet and we return to the planet, we may come and go but we are never destroyed."

She didn't know what she was hearing. It didn't sound human, but as she touched the flowers she saw it.

The lifestream.  
Billions upon billions of beings that used to be alive, that gets back to the stream at death, and is birthed out from it again and again.

She finally understood Aerith's last message.

"There's nothing to be afraid of."

Marlene smiled upon the lights that fell into the church from the broken roof above. "I understand now."

500 years later, humanity was no more, but the spirits that once lived are still abound in different forms.

The planet is alive.

**Author's Note:**

> The ending was that Marlene decided to let things run its course despite knowing humanity will perish per the planet's will when she understood that their lives are not lost but will exist in other forms. Tseng played a mentor role to Marlene in this and him knowing Aerith so well gave Marlene advice that Aerith knows what she's talking about.


End file.
